


Terra Nullius

by Dark Automaton (0Dark_Automaton0)



Category: Homestuck, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (White Diamond's mentioned but unseen), (and its effects on Earth C's culture), (i removed the shipping tags because the shippers don't need any more gen fics clogging their tags), (mixed with human culture), Adoption, Alien Culture, Culture Shock, Earth C, Gen, Immortality, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Past Alien Invasion, Post-Sburb/Sgrub, Rose is Jewish Headcanon, quadrant shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-08-31 07:27:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8569597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0Dark_Automaton0/pseuds/Dark%20Automaton
Summary: Yellow Diamond decides it's high time to begin investigating a former potential colony after receiving reports of radio signals coming from the planet's surface.Meanwhile, Steven discovers a colorful chat client, and makes a new friend!





	1. Chapter 1

Yellow Diamond scowled lowly, ordering her Pearl to detonate the communicator. The matriarch did not tolerate insubordination, and this Peridot was an exceptional case. She could have settled for getting chewed out by her manager, but _no_ , she had to straight up insult the leader of the entire empire's military to her face. Still, the thought of getting rid of another dirty little rebel was not enough to soothe her anger.

Her Pearl followed her command without so much as a twitch of reluctance. Good, at least someone had her wits about her. Yellow Diamond let out a heavy sigh, attempting to let off at least some of the burning near her gem that such rage caused, before settling back into her chair. She still had reports to read and orders to send, regardless of her bad day. One report stood out as bizarrely familiar:

"Peridot Facet 6OT Cut F13 reporting. Radio signals from Planet 790 in the Swirling Galaxy have been discovered, with some even decoded. The ones translated reveal that there is some form of intelligent life on the planet. There have also been sightings of spaceships flying from the planet's moon and back, meaning the life has discovered space travel. We await your command, My Diamond. Peridot, out."

Oh, this was just wonderful. Another planet covered in organic life that's managed to fling itself off-planet and infect other planetoids. Yellow Diamond went through records to find more on the planet, only to discover the date of which it was found and promptly abandoned. One Homeworld solar sweep after the end of the War. The report said that the surface was prone to "unpredictable bursts of volcanic activity," and thus was unsafe for colonization. She had a feeling she knew why they had really left.

The report had also gone into detail the several hundred testing sites lost in the activity; testing sites for gem formation, to be exact. In order to figure out if the terrain was good for planting gems, before and shortly after the War, injectors would begin the creation process in ravines to see how that gem type would fare coming out. The end result was a cornucopia of gems, some defective and some perfect, that would determine the next formal generations of gems grown there. It was a long, grueling process, but it was before ground-scanners had been invented.

Yellow Diamond had to wonder " _What really happened to the gem sites- OH MY STARS."_

If there was anything Yellow Diamond had learned from Earth, it was that leaving gems behind on a planet full to the brim with organic life was a disaster just waiting to happen. She wanted to go down there and see for herself, but her station was much too high to go. That was more Pink Diamond's thing, and she was very unique even amongst the Diamonds. What to do, what to do...

 

* * *

 

A colorful window popped up on Steven's computer screen. Caterpillar eyebrows scrunched up in confusion; he thought he had installed that adblocker weeks ago. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't an ad, but a chat window. The top of the window called it "Pesterchum." Huh. It asked for a username and a password. Steven shrugged to himself, "Meh, why not?"

He signed up with the username "surpriseUmbrella." It was a silly name to fit a silly boy, and it just barely fit into what seemed to be the common naming convention in the chat. He picked a salmon pink color for his text, happy with how it looked. As soon as he had made his account, a chat popped up.

\- rougeDereliction [RD] began pestering surpriseUmbrella [SU] -

RD: Hello.

Steven perked up. Yay, potential new friend! He knew better then to talk to strangers, sure, but this was over the Internet, and his webcam was broken. What harm was a little small talk?

SU: hi! i'm SU!  
RD: I noticed.  
RD: I suppose this makes me RD.  
SU: say. did this chat thingy pop up unexpectedly on your computer too? 'cause i don't remember installing it.  
RD: Pesterchum's a pretty old program.  
RD: But a robust one.  
RD: I've seen it around since I was real young.  
RD: I'm pretty sure it doesn't need your permission to install.  
RD: It just does.

 Steven didn't really like the sound of that. It kind of reminded him, vaguely, of the time that wailing stone went off.

SU: where are you from? no need for details, just wanna see if it's only in the states.  
RD: I'm on Earth.  
RD: In a grand canyon.  
SU: i thought people didn't live in the grand canyon?  
RD: Some do.  
RD: Like me.  
SU: if you say so. i'm on the east coast.  
RD: The Atlantic Ocean side?  
SU: yep!  
RD: I see.  
SU: so, whyd' you go with rougedereliction?  
RD: My username?  
RD: It seemed most fitting at the time.  
SU: why don't you use commas? is your keyboard broken?  
RD: Oh.  
RD: No.  
RD: It's my quirk.  
SU: ?  
RD: On my side of the Internet.  
RD: Nearly everyone who has a name for  themselves has a typing quirk.  
RD: Mine is brief sentences and no commas.  
SU: huh, neat.  
RD: Hold on.  
RD: Someone's calling me.

\- rougeDereliction [RD] has gone idle -

Steven waited a little bit, wondering what he/she/they were up to. Maybe the other person had some friends on this chat thing? They seemed to know more about it than he did.

RD: I'm back.  
SU: is it okay if i ask who it was?  
RD: One of my bosses.  
RD: I suppose.  
RD: He wanted me to give you a message.   
SU: really?  
RD: Yes.  
RD: He sent the chat client to you.  
RD: Because we may need you.  
SU: ???  
RD: His sister-daughter caught wind of tensions.  
RD: And she saw you somewhere in the muddle of possibilities.  
SU: sister-daughter? does she see the future? what's going on?  
RD: He is the clone of her father.  
RD: In a way.  
RD: She sees good possibilities of the future.  
SU: so if i'm there, than in a good future i'd be wherever you are?  
RD: I would assume so.  
RD: I have about as little information as you do.  
RD: I'm afraid.  
SU: oh don't be!  
RD: It's all right.  
RD: Maybe I will see you in person.  
RD: God knows it has been forever since I've had a real visitor.  
SU: pearl told me not to go to stranger's houses...  
RD: Well.  
RD: I don't live in a house per se.  
RD: I live in a canyon.  
SU: not really much better.  
RD: Look.  
RD: Something's going to happen very soon.  
RD: Once I figure out how to explain.  
RD: I'll call you again.

\- rougeDereliction [RD] ceased pestering surpriseUmbrella [SU] -

Well, crap.


	2. Chapter 2

A formal investigation was to be launched on the double, Yellow Diamond had decided. However, she decided to keep things on the down low; the public and the older of her court did not need to hear about yet another failed colony due to some measly organics. The resource shortage, now that she had calmed down and could actually think for once, was still a very pressing issue, after all. She made sure to alert her cohorts of this as well. If another war was to somehow break out, the yellow matriarch did _not_ wish to deal with her angry sisters. Of course, she also did not wish to talk to them in person, so she simply sent them a brief recorded message:

"There are reports of another planet harboring intelligent organic life on its surface. I'm sending a small team to investigate why it was not cleaned and colonized. I will update you on any further developments."

Yellow Diamond did not doubt that Blue and White would be miffed to see her give a message like that so impersonally, given the past, but she was not in the mod for verbal strife right now and she had a job to do.

The team she had selected was indeed quite small; only consisting of an older Peridot and a relatively well-grown Ametrine. The peridot, while still being of Era 2, was born rather close to the end of the war, and thus was much better briefed of the events that occurred and on the conditions she may face. Her reputation was spotless, and had she been made a foot and a half taller, she could have been considered a perfect example of her kind. The ametrine was nothing to write home about, but she was considerably more sensible than the Quartz That Could ever was. Namely, she wasn't so caught up in the war so long after. She was a bit too narrow to be "perfect" but she worked just fine and that was all that mattered.

Yellow Diamond had high hopes for those two. She had made a grave error just letting the supervisors handle the Earth mission, she needn't make that mistake again. 

* * *

 

Steven was fooling around on his computer, again. It had been about a week since his last altercation with the mysterious "rougeDereliction," and he decided to try and talk to them once more. "Note to self, find out what pronouns they use," Steven muttered to himself, pulling up the new program on his computer. Before he began the chat, he brought up the last call and took a screenshot of it. He placed it in an innocuous folder titled "cat pictures" so Pearl wouldn't go picking through if she suddenly decided to rifle through his computer. It was totally in character and didn't look suspicious at all; that's what Steven told himself, at least.

He simply wanted to make sure there was some evidence that this was real; to show Connie in case he found out something damning. Like, if aliens were re- Oh wait he already did. Well, maybe there's more than one kind of alien, besides gems. Either way, he logged into Pesterchum, and began pestering RD.

\- surpriseUmbrella [SU] began pestering rougeDereliction [RD] -

SU: hey RD  
SU: how are you?  
RD: I'm fine I suppose.  
RD: And you?  
SU: great! weirdly great...  
RD: Is it not always good?  
SU: well, before maybe a couple days ago the cr  
SU: my family and i have been running into people a lot.  
SU: no exactly nice people all the time.  
RD: Old friends or new enemies?  
SU: a little of both, i guess. one works for this really mean lady my aunts hate, but she quit so it's fine now.  
SU: another's a shell-shocked veteran who's been handled, i guess...  
SU: i mean there's a lot of them, so if you want me to stop go ahead and tell me.  
RD: Please continue.  
RD: I'm unbearably curious.  
SU: well, okay...  
SU: another one's living with the one that used to work for the mean lady.  
SU: this one's nice, but she's still dealing with problems from her past. she got imprisoned for a very long time and blames my mom and my aunts for it, but she's cooled down by now.  
SU: then there's another veteran who my mom betrayed, and i had to knock her out because she was getting angry-sad and violent and possibly suicidal.  
SU: and yet another veteran who wanted to cut my belly-button out so she could turn it in to her mean lady boss in exchange for glory  
SU: and wow my life sounds a lot more messed up when laid out like this.  
RD: I noticed.  
RD: I assume you are young since you live with family still.  
RD: Correct?  
SU: 14 ish. you?  
RD: Much much older.  
RD: If I may.  
RD: May I ask a few questions?  
SU: you already did! :D  
RD: Well I've never been very far out of my home.  
RD: Boss said it was dangerous for me to visit anyone at this point.  
RD: Whether he meant for me or for others I do not know.  
RD: What is it like where you are?  
SU: oh i'm so sorry for that <:(  
SU: i live on a beach! up north, small beach town, lovely scenery.  
SU: my house is kinda small, made of wood, and we've got a big lovely statue in the back!  
SU: beach city, that's what my hometown's called btw, is a lot of fun.  
SU: we've got the Big Donut, a little shop that sells donuts, and  
RD: What's a donut?  
SU: YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT DONUTS ARE?  
SU: you poor sheltered creature!  
SU: if i get any warning before this potential good future thing that involves me happens, i'll bring you one!  
RD: Thank you.  
RD: I suppose I'll learn when that happens.  
SU: ok, back to my story...  
SU: we've also got Fishstew Pizza, which doesn't sell anything fish-related just pizza.  
SU: i don't know why but the owner's last name is Pizza. i heard he's an immigrant, so he might have changed it when he got to America.  
SU: we've also got Beach City Fries, which sells fries and fry bits. my friend Peedee works there!  
SU: there's Funland, owned by Mr Smiley. his smile masks his inner pain.  
RD: Relatable.  
SU: my dad owns It's A Wash, a car-wash. he did get a butt-load of money from a music gig he did a while back, but he's keeping his day job anyways.  
SU: my dad is super cool!  
SU: he used to be a travelling rock star back in his youth, before he met my mom.  
SU: he was called Mr. Universe!  
SU: he's still really good at music, and even though my mom wasn't around to help, he did a really good job raising me, i think!  
RD: You seem to see him favorably.  
RD: My guardians abandoned me before I hatched.  
SU: oh  
SU: oh no i'm so sorry!  
SU: <:(  
RD: I've lived.  
RD: My bosses took care of me for my early years.  
RD: I'm not sure how well they raised me.  
RD: Nobody around here has ever seen anything like me.  
SU: sort of the same thing here.  
RD: And I'm quite the spectacle.  
RD: They'd send drones to keep nosy reporters and conspiracy theorists out of The Jewelry Box.  
RD: So they've never bothered me.  
SU: drones?  
RD: You know.  
RD: Patrolling robots built to serve and protect.  
RD: Like police but with no bias, prejudice, nor emotions?  
SU: um.... we don't have those around here....  
RD: Oh.  
RD: Is that weird?  
RD: Oh geez.  
RD: Oh no.  
RD: OH CRAP.  
SU: hey hey, easy, it's okay!  
SU: i won't tell anybody.  
RD: No no you don't get it.  
RD: Just  
RD: Give me some time.

Steven went to try and stop them, but they logged off before he could so much as finish the first word. Dammit, not again.


	3. Chapter 3

Yellow Diamond wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting from the duo she sent. The reports she received were disjointed, some pieces missing or corrupted. According to the peridots that attended to her, the signals from the planet seemed to interfere with the transmission. The matriarch worried that the native life may have gotten to the point where they could disrupt gem technology, or perhaps some gems had survived after the planet's abandonment and formed their own sect. What was on the reports themselves did nothing to ease her concerns.

"Log date 12-45, Peridot speaking. Upon reaching the planet's orbit, it is clear that the planet has liquid dihydrogen monoxide and an atmosphere. Judging from the patches of green, I suspect there is a rather large biosphere as well. No noticeable signs of major volcanic activity beyond the norm. The planet it within the golden range for organic life support. I will take more notes as we explore the surface. Peridot, out."

"Log date 12-47, Peridot . The planet is clearly inhabited by advanced organic life. Anything from ~~~~complex animals seem to flourish here. Ugh. The animals, notably, do not resemble anything from Earth perfectly. Many are white in external casing, and after a few attacks it's clear that their bodily fluids range in a veritable rainbow of colors. ~~~~not our focus. The ametrine has spotted movement on the horizon; we will be checking it out once light breaks. Peridot, out."

"Log date, 12-50.  can't find . She left on her own for my safety, but she hasn't come back. She headed towards the south, to some sort of dry desert area by a large fault gap. I will be following her trail to see where she went."

"12-52. There are metallic... things guarding the  ~~~~. I have reason to believe this is where the testing sites were, for planting new gems. I couldn't have picked a more perfect place myself... What are they guarding? Surely any gems inside would have long since emerged by now. talking, but I am not close enough to hear them clearly. Maybe they'll have Ametrine."

Only four in, and the reports stop. Yellow Diamond was internally debating whether or not to just send in a fleet or wait until she reports again, if the peridot ever does. Yellow Diamond really did not like the sound of this...

Blue Diamond was annoyed at the intrusion, "What is it now? Did that planet you are investigating erupt like the reports said?"

Yellow Diamond's response was immediate, "The Peridot I sent has gone missing, as well as her escort."

The veiled matriarch paused for a moment, before asking, "Are you certain they are not merely deserters?"

"Their reputations are spotless, Blue. There is no reason for them to leave us."

"Tell me more."

Yellow Diamond let the recordings play out, taking note of the tightening of the other Diamond's lips. In spite of her attempts, Yellow was not quite as hardhearted as she wished. This must have reminded her of... that incident. When Earth was first discovered... Blue asked for any pictures, but the files were corrupted. It seemed that whatever was there was intelligent enough to be able to manipulate files. Blue proposed that they alert White Diamond. Yellow Diamond remarked, "What is she going to do about it? Besides throwing a massive fleet into what may possibly be dangerous territory."

"She needs to know these things too, Yellow. You know just as well what hiding information from each other does."

Yellow hated it when Blue was right.

* * *

 The leaves were falling nice and heavy now, Steven noted. Colors so vibrant, that is looked as if it was raining fire, except a whole lot less painful. Steven was wrapped up in a cozy sweater, fitting the season, and wondered if his weird Pesterchum buddy was seeing the sights of autumn. He had managed to finally ask for her pronouns, and she seemed understanding.

RD: Pronouns?  
RD: Oh right those.  
RD: I forgot those were a thing.  
RD: Sorry if I worried you.  
SU: no problem!  
RD: She/her.  
RD: No capitalization needed.

She seemed a tad stiff since the drone slip-up. Steven wasn't quite sure what to think about that, but then again... Steven internally pardoned his French before admitting silently that he has seen some shit. It's not a secret and there's not really any better way to explain it. He's seen worse than robotic bodyguards. Maybe she's from some rich family that wants to keep her safe, in the most tortuous way possible... Steven shook his head "no." That'd be silly.

Perhaps she was a princess! Hidden away during wartime, and thus necessitating the use of non-human guards. Can't be betrayed by robots. Still, Steven didn't believe it. She wasn't very prideful; if anything she was kind of naive and down on herself. She even compared herself to a circus display, on multiple occasions, "with less funny and more Holy Crap." No princess he could imagine was that esteem-less (except maybe Connie, but she's for another reason entirely).

Maybe she's in the Witness Protection Program? Nah, they wouldn't let her on the Internet too much if that's the case. FBI agent? What would a FBI agent be doing in a canyon? Alien? ...Mmmmaybe. At this point Steven had no clues. Besides the mysterious "Bosses" and the drones, he had very little to go off of. She was incredibly isolated, and was under the command of people who allegedly have mystical powers. Lapis comes to mind in that, and Steven wondered if perhaps she could have helped.

He made his arrival at the barn, for about the second time since Andy's departure. Peridot was trying to put up some sort of roof above the truck deck. Steven called up, "Hey Peridot, what're you doing?"

"Putting some more protection above the TV! It rained really hard last night and Lapis could barely keep it from seeping in!" Peridot yelled from her spot, struggling to hold the drill steady. The piece of wood that she was sticking above the porch looked suspiciously like the door of a porta-potty, but Steven decided against pointing that out. He asked her, "Hey, is Lapis here? I need to ask her something."

"You can ask me," Peridot said casually, "I did have access to Homeworld's archives."

"Well, do you know about any alien species?" Steven asked, "Like, smart ones, with technology and stuff."

"Besides humans? Not really," Peridot shrugged, picking up a new bit after the last old one broke off, "If there were any, they're probably long gone by now. Or just really really far away. Why do you ask?"

Steven contemplated it before admitting, "I've been getting messages from someone, who I'm starting to suspect isn't human."

"What?!" Peridot leaped from the porch, landing on her behind, before continuing, "Like, what kind of messages? Are they in your head?!"

"What, no!" Steven said immediately, "More like, typing. Some random chat client appeared on my computer, and the first person I met said something about 'guard drones' and I have no idea what's going on..."

"Hm... It could just be an incredibly intelligent human. Or a prank. Or both."

"Maybe," Steven said, "But I'm still curious. So, until further notice, this stays totally secret, OK?"

"Okay."

So Peridot didn't know anything. Steven kind of figured; she was fairly oblivious to even the most basic aspects of Earth before he explained them to her, so why would she be in the know on something like that? He wondered if Homeworld was seeing this too...


	4. Intermission and an upd8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I'm sorry about the lack of updates recently. Life's a bitch and my writing mojo is having a little trouble putting the pen to the paper, so to speak. One of my biggest roadblocks right now is the HTML for the chatlogs, which for all my attempts has yet to function as it should. No amount of formatting will make that text change font and color, I swear! It's even in the Homestuck skin. :'D  
> Anyways, to try and make up for it, here's some previews for the chapters to come.

Aforementioned terrible HTML BS: 

And now for the preview:

_"Rouge, noun, a red powder or cream used as a cosmetic for coloring the cheeks or lips."_

_"Dereliction, noun, the state of having been abandoned and become dilapidated, or, the shameful failure to fulfill one's obligations."_

_"RD, you're a?"_

_"I can't wait to meet you!"_

_"I will not stand here and let my sister be locked away like some zoo animal!"_

_"I am surrounded by liars and thieves! When did I become the  of a kingdom of liars and thieves?!"_

_"You know, you're being a real clod to her,."_

_"They've been here since long before I was ever made."_

_"We call them The Creators."_


	5. Chapter 4

The room was dark, only the monitor of the computer serving as a light source. The lone occupant didn't mind much; there wasn't much of anything in the bare bones room to see. The old laboratory had been unused for longer than she had been alive, and as typical of her kind's style, there was no furniture or decoration to look at, unless one were to count the simplistic patterns that resembled the symbol of Moirallegiance covering the metallic walls. There was only her and the computer there.

Logging out, she laid out onto the cool tile floor, pressing her hands to her face in embarrassment. God, she really screwed the pooch this time. Boss was going to be so mad. She pinched the bridge of her scent sponge/cartilaginous nub/whatever you're supposed to call the protruding thingy at the front of your face why do these people have to use so many words for it/nose, and sighed. "Whatever," she said to herself, "It's not like he'll do anything about it." He had never confronted her about things in person before. His brother-son mentioned that his Other self had gone overboard in paternal confrontation, and speculated that maybe he didn't want to follow in his mistakes. But that would be silly; the worst he could do is maybe hurt her fingers, and those healed fairly quickly.

She wondered what the others would think.

Her moping was interrupted by the ringing of the chat client. Dammit, he wished to speak with her. She reluctantly got off her rump to answer the call.

\- timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering rougeDereliction [RD] -

RD: What now?  
TT: Touchy. Did another lusus sneak its way into the Jewelry Box and bite you again?  
RD: It only happened the one time!  
RD: And no.  
TT: You let slip about being an alien to the other alien, didn't you?  
RD: Not  
RD: Entirely...  
RD: Apparently they don't have drones there.  
TT: Did you tell him any more?  
RD: No.  
TT: Alright, that isn't too bad. You have to be more careful about this, you know.  
RD: I know...  
TT: I think you inherited Dave's propensity to talk too much.  
RD: I thought that was more a general Strilonde thing.  
TT: ... True.  
TT: Either way, try to be a little more careful about what you say. He may decide to flee if he knows what you are.  
RD: I know.

King Dirk was always such a meddler, sticking his touch stumps into everything. She pouted, before realizing the action was useless in her current situation.

RD: But why would he?  
RD: Queen Rose told me a bit about him.  
RD: His guardians are of my kind.  
RD: Are they not?  
TT: They are and they aren't. The gems on their Earth are very different from the gems on ours; like two peoples from two different countries.  
TT: If he were to find out what exactly you are, he may become wary of you.  
RD: But why?  
TT: Let's just say that your Homeworld counterparts are rather infamous, and leave it at that.  
TT: You're not ready, and neither is he.  
RD: Then when will we be ready?  
TT: Soon. Very, very soon.  
TT: Don't worry yourself too much. Just keep practicing your running.  
RD: ...  
RD: I don't recall ever telling you that.  
TT: Do you think the drones just look straight ahead in their patrols?  
RD: ...  
TT: Don't worry about it. I'll call you again soon.

\- timaeusTestified [TT] ceased pestering rougeDereliction [RD] -

Ugh. Parents could be such a drain sometimes. Always having their massive drones spy on you from the lip of the abyss...

Whatever. She decided that it was high time to put all this off of her mind. She pulled up a story from the online archives; one that had been there her whole existence, and perhaps a little before it. She flipped onto one of her favorite parts, where the hero finally meets his one true pity. Or at least, that is what the troll scholars think it is.

"The inheritrix was statuesque and regal in all her obscure sorts of beauty. Her evening gown glittered with the stars only found in the most isolated of skies, assisted by the three in the morning thread that could only be made by the goddesses of the stars themselves. Glistening white beads carved from the bones of prehistoric Earthling creatures were arranged in an intricate pattern amongst golden quadrilaterals about her throat, as if to bring attention from her starry dress to her narrow face..."

This crap was as flowery and opaque as old literature got, especially since it was written by none other than the patron saint of flighty broads, Rose Lalonde. Not that anyone would call her that to her face, even amongst the Creators. The Tale of Two Earths was a literary classic in many respects, for its symbology as well as its auguring themes. Queen Lalonde of the Light always made it a sort of game to predict the future in her stories, both to amuse herself as well as communicate orders to her people without risking the Creator's role in the government by dishing out an executive order or anything like that. She, the reader, knew that it could be considered quite manipulative to lead the people on like this, but the Queen knew better than a good portion of the mundane government. Just look at what the Carapacian counsel nearly did to the moon!

Writing these stories, full of charm and prose in their own right, was perhaps Rose's best tool. Either way, they made for good reading material. The reader went through a few more pages of the tough read before marking her place and clicking out. Her thoughts had this terrible tendency to wander when left unstimulated, even when entertainment was readily available on her computer. Her attention span was remarkably short for things she had either done a million times over or simply had no interest in, and when the light flickered off there was no getting it back on until much later. Her thoughts today pertained to a certain new friend of hers.

SU.

She wondered if he was like any of those especially tiny humans, the ones with the high voices and the screechy squeals of delight when faced with teasing affection by paternal and maternal figures. Those ones were terribly small and squishy; much too delicate to be allowed anywhere near her, she assumed. It was a shame, really. First friend that wasn't an eternal earth god and she couldn't even hug him. Although he did say he was 14; no younger than the Creators when they left their homes and began the creation process, so he couldn't be _that_ frail.

Her knowledge of him was fairly limited. Queen Rose and Queen Terezi stated that she would meet him in a few weeks, he was a juvenile human, his lusii/guardians were also gems, they all live on another Earth (which has already been deemed "Earth D" or "Native Earth," depending on who you asked), and that she would eventually meet them all in person to help undo some grand mistake made long before her birth. What was that mistake? She didn't know, although she had a feeling it had something to do with the abandoned Kindergarten that was now named The Jewelry Box...

Boy, this was going to be an adventure.


	6. Chapter 5

"Set course for Planet 790, Galaxy Five," Yellow Diamond ordered, sending away the dutiful pilots to steer the ship as requested. As the doors closed behind them, she found herself with perhaps a minute or two of breathing room before her next duties were to be met. The matriarch sighed, reminiscing on the conversation she had with her fellow Diamonds. Blue and White were weary, to say the least, of life-bearing planets after the War. Yellow was too, but she did not wish to stand by and let yet another slip from their grip. Blue had offered to come along, but Yellow insisted that she would have her weapon at the ready at all times, and promised not to go onto the surface alone.

Galaxy Five, also known as the Swirling Galaxy, was a very pretty gathering of stars and space debris. Six white arms stretched light-years from an odd glowing green mass surrounding its central black hole. Its distinctive shape, much neater than many other spiral galaxies, gave it a name in the astronomer field. Very few planets within it were suitable for full colonization, as the dense arms left planets usually much too close to asteroid belts and stars to leave it unbeaten and solid. As great as that would be, gemkind hadn't quite figured out how to make gems from liquid rock yet. However, Planet 790 was labelled a Plausible in terms of colonization, for its optimal distance from both its sun and had very low chances for impact. Sadly, it was labelled Uninhabitable due to "Unpredictable Geological Phenomena" and left with a good portion of the Swirling Galaxy.

However, Yellow Diamond had come to a realization that the circumstances behind its mislabeling were more than likely sinister. Unless the Peridot she sent was hallucinating from ridiculous amounts of radiation, there were animals and flora covering the planet enough to be visible from orbit. From previous experience, Yellow associated organic life with rebellion and dissent amongst the ranks. Some gems were just too softhearted to do their jobs and ignore the weird and hideous creatures they encountered along the way. Perhaps if they needed animals for whatever reason, they would keep them, rather than clearing them out along with the rest of the organic waste. But there was no use for them, and thus they were to be disposed of.

Yellow Diamond felt a small jolt throughout her form as the massive ship's gravity engine kicked in. She quickly checked herself for any deformities, just in case somebody messed with the calibration, and she was glad to find nothing unusual. She checked her Pearl for any abnormalities, and upon finding none, she began her routine report-readings. Most of Homeworld's ranks had to report the status of any given activity sanctioned by the Diamonds, but typically the Diamonds themselves could not filter through every single report sent. In order to stem the flow, most reports went through the chain of command. Even then, the sheer number of reports she had to read and listen to were startling. If she needed sleep, she would have passed out millennia ago. There were reports on construction projects, wars, mischief amongst the nobility, and more things that would inevitably be forgotten. Yellow Diamond considered putting more filters in, but she knew that some nobles preferred to defer directly to her and not another buffer, needy little things they were.

In the time it took to reach the system of Planet 790, she had maybe put a slight dent in her reports. A lower guard was sent to let her know that they were close to the planet, and Yellow Diamond dismissed her. The matriarch looked out the window, seeing a few planets orbiting a medium-sized star lazily. One in particular, in the third place from the center, was awfully blue and green. "That must be it," Yellow Diamond muttered, before asking the guard, "Why have we halted?"

"My Diamond, we may be having some... technical difficulties," the quartz said hesitantly, "The Nephrites are looking into it, but they said that somethin' ain't lettin' us near."

"'Someth _ing_ is _not_ lett _ing_ us get close,'" Yellow Diamond corrected sharply, thinking to herself, _"Ugh, why did they have to send in an Era 2? At least the Era 1 quartzes have some grasp of proper diction!"_

"I'm sorry, My Diamond," the guard saluted. Yellow Diamond sighed, and dismissed the guard, before calling directly to the cockpit.

"Why have we stopped?"

The captain, a Nephrite with an exceptional green luster only found in the more bountiful days of Homeworld, saluted her Diamond, "Your Radiance, our sensors indicate that we have not stopped, but are still hanging at the same distance from the planet as when we arrived."

"Meaning?"

"Either we've entered a wormhole that keeps looping to this spot, or whatever's on that planet is able to warp the definition of distance to keep us away, like a reverse gravity engine."

"Just perfect," Yellow Diamond said sarcastically, before commanding, "Stop the engine, and see if we can get there without it."

"Yes, My Diamond."

As the gravity engine jolted to a stop, Yellow Diamond absorbed this information. This was not good. If there had been a wormhole, they would have detected it beforehand and maneuvered around it, and that leaves the "reverse gravity engine." Not even gemkind had that sort of technology! The matriarch had a feeling that whatever was lurking on that planet was a serious threat to Homeworld, perhaps more so than the monstrosity that would escape the Earth soon. There had to be a way for her to get to the surface, just to see what was going on. Her gaze wandered to the palanquin White Diamond had given her the day she passed inspection. Unlike the dainty little thing Blue Diamond kept, Yellow had modified hers heavily for use outside of mere casual transport, to allow for it to act as a personal escape pod should the need arise.

On one hand, if it didn't work, she could always fly back to the ship and troubleshoot with the pilots. On the other hand, if she succeeded, she would be alone.

"Well," her mind reasoned, "I wouldn't technically be alone if I brought Pearl with me."

She extended a hand to her personal Pearl, and the smaller gem dutifully hopped on. Yellow Diamond asked, "Pearl, I need you to keep an eye out in case of any danger, all right?"

"Yes, My Diamond," Pearl said, "Are we taking the palanquin?"

"Yes, Pearl. If this does not work, do not say a word of this to anyone."

"Yes, My Diamond."

On the inside, the two of them held opposite hopes. Yellow Pearl was hoping that they would fail and stay in the ship. She knew precisely what happened during the rebellion, and she didn't wish to end up like Blue Pearl: cold and unfeeling. Yellow Diamond was hoping that they would reach the surface, though she preferred not to think about the possibilities of what was truly going on there.

**Author's Note:**

> Very much a WIP. If anyone has any tips on how to put the chatlog into the proper format (font, size, color, etc), please let me know. I would appreciate it greatly.


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